Isaiah 44

1 But now listen, Jacob my servant, Israel whom I chose.

2 This is what the Lord God says—the one who made you and formed you in the womb: You will still receive help. Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, beloved Israel whom I chose.

3 I will give water to thirsty people walking through dry land. I will put my Spirit on your offspring and my blessings on your children.

4 They will spring up like grass between streams and like willows beside running water.

5 One will say, ‘I belong to God.’ Another will call on Jacob’s name, and another will write, ‘I belong to God,’ and will call on Israel’s name.

6 This is what God says—the King of Israel, the God of armies who rescued him: I am the first, and I am hereafter. Besides me there is no God.

7 Who is like me? Let him stand, call out, and prepare for me from the time I made humanity forever. Let them tell you what is coming before it arrives.

8 Do not hide yourselves. Have you not listened from the beginning, and did I not announce this to you? You are witnesses whether there is a God besides me. There was none then.

9 Everyone who forms and carves images is empty. They make what they desire, but it will not help them; instead, they will be ashamed,

10 those who form a god and carve worthless things.

11 Everyone who made them has withered. Yes, let all the deaf gather from among humanity and stand together; they will be ashamed and confused together.

12 A metalworker sharpens iron, shapes it with an adze, bores it with an auger, and forms it with the strength of his arm. Then he becomes hungry and weak and drinks no water.

13 A craftsman chooses wood, marks it with a ruler, fits it with glue, and gives it a human shape and human beauty to set it up in a house.

14 He cuts wood from the forest, wood the Lord planted and rain made grow,

15 so people can burn it. He takes part of it and warms himself. They burn part, bake bread on it, and make gods from the rest and bow down to them.

16 He burns half in the fire and bakes bread on its coals. He roasts meat, eats until satisfied, warms himself, and says, ‘I am comfortable because I warmed myself and saw the fire.’

17 He makes the rest into a carved god, bows down, and prays, saying, ‘Rescue me, because you are my god.’

18 They have no understanding. They were blinded so their eyes would not see and their hearts would not understand.

19 No one considered or understood that he burned half in the fire, baked bread on its coals, roasted meat, and ate it, then made the rest into a detestable thing and bowed down to it.

20 Understand that their heart is ashes and they wander. No one can rescue his own soul. Look, will you not say, ‘There is a lie in my right hand’?

21 Remember these things, Jacob and Israel, because you are my servant. I formed you to be my servant. Israel, do not forget me.

22 Look, I have wiped away your lawless deeds like a cloud and your sin like darkness. Return to me, and I will ransom you.

23 Rejoice, heavens, because God has shown mercy to Israel! Sound the trumpet, foundations of the earth! Shout for joy, mountains, hills, and every tree on them, because God has ransomed Jacob, and Israel will be glorified.

24 This is what the Lord, the one who ransoms you, who formed you in the womb, says: I am the Lord who accomplishes everything. I stretched out heaven alone and established the earth. Who else

25 scatters the signs of ventriloquists and predictions from the human heart, turning wise people backward and making their counsel foolish,

26 establishing his servant’s words and proving his messengers’ counsel true? He tells Jerusalem, ‘You will be inhabited,’ the cities of Judah, ‘You will be built,’ and her deserted places, ‘You will spring up.’

27 He tells the deep, ‘You will be laid waste, and I will dry up your rivers.’

28 I am the one who tells Cyrus to be wise, and he will carry out everything I want; the one who says of Jerusalem, ‘You will be built,’ and, ‘I will lay the foundation of my holy house.’